4 Things I wish I knew Would Take the Stress Out of Moving BEFORE I Actually Moved

If you’ve ever had the “pleasure” of moving then you’re well aware of the stress it brings. You’re excited about the newness of moving and the experiences you’ll have, but that actual planning, packing, loading, and unpacking process, that’s not so fun. After our last move, I swore to my husband that we’d never relocate again unless we had the money to leave everything behind and purchase all new items once we arrive at our new place.

Okay, so I was exaggerating a bit, but I it did inspire me to find solutions to moving that could probably save others a lot of stress. Once I started researching, I was pretty amazed to see how many different ways there are to take the stress out of a move.

1. Get a Good Night’s Sleep – So the night of the move I was still trying to get things packed and squared away. I found that I was up until the wee hours in the morning and only got about 2 hours of sleep. Have you ever tried to load a moving truck, tie up loose ends, and make sure the kids are taken care of on two hours of sleep? Let’s just say I don’t recommend it to anyone. If you plan your move accordingly, you should leave time for you to get rest the night before. It totally brings the stress levels down a bit.
2. You Can Rent Moving Containers – When trying to move on a budget, you want to find savings wherever you can. So naturally we found a deal for a one way trip with a moving truck with unlimited miles. However, in order to get the good deal we had to have the truck back before the close of the business day. This meant we had to load and unload in a reasonable amount of time to avoid going over budget. Little did I know that you could find a moving company to rent moving containers. Moving containers are large shipping units that get dropped off at your home. You load them up as you please and then simply have the container moved to your new place. You unload and they come and pick the containers back up.
3. Wait Until the Kids are In School (or with a sitter) – I call myself trying to be proactive by decluttering the house and getting a head start on sorting through the things I didn’t want to take with us so I could give them away. I start with the kid’s room (why?) and every item I picked up they literally wanted to keep it. Needless to say I wasn’t very productive that day. It’s probably a good idea to send the kids to school or to grandma and grandpa’s house while you get things squared away.
4. You’re Not a Superwoman – So even though our spouses and children think that we can be all things at all times without stopping, we know the truth…sometimes you just can’t do it all. I found myself trying to do everything from start to finish  (with the exception of loading the truck), without asking for any help from friends or family members (or service providers for that matter). Once I got to my new house I couldn’t even enjoy the experience of that “new house smell” because I was knocked out in the passenger seat of our car halfway through the ride to the new place.

So these are just a few of the lessons I’ve learned to make my life a bit easier the next time we move. Although I really enjoy where we are now and would like to stay for a while you never know what the future may hold. My last bit of advice, research and plan before a move to make life simpler, that way you don’t tire yourself out and can simply enjoy the pleasure of creating new experiences with the ones that you love.

Becky Wilcox is a freelance writer who enjoys writing about beauty, fashion, technology and more.  She writes for Life with Lisa as well as several other blogs and websites.  Check back soon for more from Becky.